Utilities Shut Off to Homes in Neighboring City as Impact of Rancho Palos Verdes Landslide Grows

Damage resulting from ongoing land movement in the area has forced power shutoffs to homes and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Sept. 3, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Gas and power will be shut off to dozens of Rolling Hills residents beginning Sept. 16 next to a massive landslide in the coastal community of Rancho Palos Verdes in Southern California, officials said.

Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) expected to cut service to 34 homes in the city of Rolling Hills starting 3 p.m. Monday.

Southern California Edison (SCE) has also notified 50 customers in the Quail Ridge area that their power will be shut off indefinitely on or before 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to SCE spokeswoman Gabriela Ornelas.

“We have experienced a significant increase in the number of repairs needed,” Ornelas told The Epoch Times Monday. “We are unable to affectively monitor the situation and safely maintain service.”

The power company plans to continue to monitor the conditions in Rolling Hills and the landslide area in Rancho Palos Verdes. But for now, the company doesn’t expect to disconnect more customers, she said.

Rolling Hills residents affected by this week’s utility shutdowns are the latest to suffer the effects of a fast-moving landslide in the area.

“The safety and well-being of our residents remains the City’s top priority,” Rolling Hills Mayor Leah Mirsch said in a statement Monday. “We are all impacted by the outages and are committed to holding the utility companies accountable—pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services both quickly and safely.”

Residents in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood have watched the ground around their properties buckle and split as water pipes and utilities for many customers have been either exposed or damaged in the past year.

The landslide area is about one-mile wide and is moving about a foot a week, according to Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank.

The landslide complex, which has existed since about 1956, is made up of five active landslides—four in Rancho Palos Verdes and one in Rolling Hills.

“It’s a pretty substantial-sized complex,” Cruikshank told EpochTV’s “California Insider.”

Residents in the landslide zone are resorting to building generators or installing solar panels to continue living in their homes, the mayor said.

A sign reads 'Road Closed Landslide Damage' amid an ongoing land movement crisis in the area which has forced power shutoffs to homes, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring a state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Sept. 3, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Land movement in the ancient landslide has accelerated significantly after severe winter storms deluged the area in 2023 and earlier this year.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sept. 3 for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex.

The governor’s office of emergency services has been coordinating with the city and county for almost a year to help support a response to the land movement, including providing assistance centers and helping secure a federal grant for groundwater work in the area, according to the governor’s office.

Before this week’s newest shutoffs, SCE had already disconnected power service to 140 homes in the Portuguese Bend Community Association, 30 households in Seaview, and 54 in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club, according to the city of Rancho Palos Verdes.

SoCalGas decided to shut down service to some customers in Rolling Hills this week after a recent geological hazard survey and an incident with the water system validated concerns about the hazards of continuing to provide natural gas to those homes, according to a company statement Sept. 12.

An aerial view shows damage resulting from ongoing land movement in the area that has forced power shutoffs to homes and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on Sept. 3, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The gas company, which provides natural gas to about 21 million customers in more than 500 communities, is continuing to coordinate with city officials and other experts monitoring and responding to the fast-moving landslide, the company said.

As of Monday, natural gas service has been shut off from 135 homes in the Portuguese Bend Community Association, 28 homes in Seaview, and 24 in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club, according to a spokesman for Rancho Palos Verdes.

Cox Communications, which provides cable and internet to homes in the landslide area, has disconnected 146 households in the Portuguese Bend Community Association, the city spokesman said.

SoCalGas has also donated $50,000 to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Rotary Foundation to help those residents impacted by the land movement, the company reported.

The Rotary Club is starting to collect donations and plans to host a local 10K and 5K running event to raise proceeds to help residents, Julia Parton, club president, told The Epoch Times.